The Masks We Wear
by Blood Diamond13
Summary: A story about why the original cast appeared in "Here Come the Munsters" and why Herman was not there. Also why they seemed reluctant to appear as they were before... the incident.
1. Why We Disquise

It had been years. Years since the death of the one man whom excepted her. In all of her greenness, her paleness, her... everything. She knew it would happen eventually... after all, his kind was not immortal. But due to his being created, he could not die unless by his only true weakness... fire. She knew America would never except them. Being in L.A., what did they expect? A warm welcome for a group of... monsters? Yes, monsters. That is what they were. Gruesome, monsters. Munster was not real. For in the end, it was **what** you were that really mattered.

They were persecuted again. The whole town had gotten together and what had they done? They had taken Herman. God knows what they had done with him. They didn't want just him, but Herman fought them and they took him with the parting words, telling them to leave and never return. But they had nowhere else to go. "Let this be a lesson to you, " they had said. " **Monsters!** " They yelled and ran out with her husband. So, they did the next best thing. They moved, they moved to a small, two bedroom apartment and changed their outfits... their names. Their **identities**.

Eddie was only twenty two then. Marylin had finally gotten married five years earlier and moved away. Lilith Grace Kenedine, being her new name... still, to the present day, cried. Sal Pedro Frenedo, was now five hundred fourty, and looked sixty. Lilith barely looked older. Except she had lost her figure. She had let a lot about herself go. She was now one hundred and sixty seven, she looked in between thirty five and fourty. However her new age was of course, sixty. Eddie Alejandro Kenedine was fourty. Marylin, fourty eight with Lilith and... Sal, still loving in the apartment. It had been this way for thirty years. A long, long time. Lily had died her hair all black and covered her fangs up. She hated looking the way she did, dressing the way she did... living the way... **they** , did.

She saw his face everywhere, a glimmer of hope telling her he was not dead. That he was out there... but how could that be? He would be persecuted anywhere. And so would she. She drove down the street on August 1st, 1997. She drove in a small, beat up clown car. It was white. And rusty. She was picking up her father his weekly medication. Ever since he stopped drinking blood, his mind and body had begin to fail him. She remembered a quite few years ago, they had run into a boy who looked exactly like her husband. They had ordered food clpsest to what they used to eat, but still not close enough. The town had not remembered them, for their false identities were so good at masking them that they were no longer false. She waited at the red light. Her plus size floral dress barely moved, even with the windows down. And Sal's medication was next to her. Lilith had grown cold over the years. Her joy in life was her **whole** family. She loved Herman's goofiness and stupidity and how he could have those genious moments. How he often thought he was on top of the world. She was doing it again. She sighed. She was letting her thoughts run away with her. She would not cry. All she had left of him was a bat necklace he had given her. She wore it every day, tucking it carefully into her clothing.

Someone beeped. "Hey, old man! Get out of the road!"

Lilith looked at what the person was yelling at and saw an old man, limping through the street, shaking a tin can with a bat on it and yelling, "Blood donations! Donate your blood to the vampires!" Lilith immideatley ran into the street and put the old man in her car, in the passenger seat. She snatched the tin can away from him.

"Father, stop that!" She whisper yelled. She then shook her head and popped a few pills into his mouth. "There... You have to stay in the house when I tell you to." They drove to the apartment and Lilith started on lunch. A salad, a meat salad. Thus was all Sal ever ate anymore. She quickly whipped one up and served it to him in his bed. And she then sat on the baige couch for thebfourth time that Tuesday... and wept.


	2. The Flower Parlor

Sal ate his salad in silence, as usual. He begun to talk to the wall, as usual. He spoke of the old country and their old life when his daughter was not present. His frigid, fragile daughter.

Lilith had cried for twenty minutes and decided she had better head off to work. So, she made Sal promise not to leave the house and she quickly tucked the bat necklace she was holding into her dress and exited the apartment.

She was late for work and quickly ran in to appologize. "Mr. Nielands, I am so terribly sorry." She said quickly to her boss, going on seventy.

"You know, that's going to be a deduction off of your pay." By seeing the defeated look on her face, the cranky old man softened. "... Next time."

"Thank you, Mr. Neilands. I'll get righht to work." So, Lilith begun to tend to the plants and take orders when a man came in to pick up some flowers.

"Miss... Lilith? What a lovely name." The man looked to be in his mid-thirties and he was very tall. Maybe six foot four. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a white flannel shirt and khakis.

"Why, thank you." Lilith said. "What type of fæowers did you order?"

"A mix, of daisies, roses and... lilies. Wow, what a coincidence." The man shrugged and gave a hearty laugh.

"Of course, your total will be twelve fifty." Lilith ran to the back, put the flowers in plastic and tied it with a white bow. She handed them to the man.

"Sure, thanks." The man handed her fifteen dollars. He begun to walk away.

"Sir, you gave me an extra three dollars and fifty cence!" Lilith called after him. The man quickly came back.

"Ma'am. I am aware of that."

"But why?"

"You seem like you need it." The man spoke honestly.

Lilith seemed offended by this. "Why?" She asked skeptically.

"Because..." the man came very close to her. Closer than anyone had come in a long time. He whispered in her ear., "You're Lily Munster." And he walked away, not before he slipped his card into her purse.

Lilith was beside herself when she came home that night. _He knows,_ she thought. _And he's okay with it._ How did he know? She had disquised her skin so well it appeared fair white. She had purchased blue contacts. She had gained more than a few pounds. And she looked five years older. How did this man know her?

She read his card. "Sal Pedro Frenedo... Vocational Counciler." Her father had stolen this man's name. His identity. Then why did this man give her money? It was all too much for Lilith. She could not comprehend it. Any of it! She popped a few migraine pills and sat down, breathing heavily. It was hard enough having her mentally unstable father keep the big secret. But to share it with a man she didn't even know? She might as well have tattooed, _"I'M SCREWED."_ on her forehead. What had she done? She was always careful. Maybe it was her father, he was always speaking of vampires and blood. At that very moment, Lilith had a panic attack.

She screamed and fell to the floor, crying and shaking and popping more and more pills. Her biggest fear was persecution. She could not go through it again. She had overdosed and her nerves were skyrocketing. She screamed again. This time, Sal ran out to her. "Lily!" He put a palm to her sweaty forehead. "Give me the pills, sweet heart." Sal would have occasional episodes of perfect health, a state of mind on which he could function completely.

Lilith shook her head, refusing to give them up.

"Lily, please. Please, Lily, we gotta get you to a hospital or something. We already lost Herman... and I'll be damned if I'm gonna lose you too." Sal pleaded. He then took the bottle from Lily and dialed 9-1-1.

"911, what's your emergancy?" The dispatcher asked.

"This is Sal Frenedo. It's my daughter, she accidentally took too many pills. Please, hurry!" Sal begged.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down. Where do you liv-"

"1314 Blackbird Drive. Apartment 6." Sal stated abrubtlty.

"We'll have an ambulance over in just a few minutes." The dispatcher hung up.

Sal sat with Lily and held her hand until the ambulance arrived. And just after they took his dauhter away, he slipped into his usual state of unconcious conciousness... and blacked out.


	3. I Am Not a Monster

Lilith woke up alone in the hospital room... or at least, she thought she was alone. She turned around slowly and her eyes came directly with those of a kneeling Sal. The vocational counciler. "Hello, Lily." Sal greeted her with the same flowers he had ordered yesterday.

"Thank you." This scared Lilith. "They're very lovely." It took her a minute to remember everything that had happened. The door was closed and it appeared locked. The wondows were closed as well and the curtains were covering them. "How do you know who I am?" She again thought of the flowers. "Are you phsycic?"

"No. I'm just an average Joe who lost his family in an helicopter crash and who wanted to help a lady out. Is that so wrong?" Sal asked.

Lilith instantly felt for Sal. "I'm terribly sorry for your loss."

"It's alright. I've moved on. But you, my dear lady... have not." Sal stated rather bluntly. He paused. "Because you can't. No one can wear a mask forever." He paused again, sighing. "Not even a monster."

"I was pulling it off rather well until you came along." Lilith became defensive.

"I want to help you. Lily, there are laws in this country now-"

"There were laws before but that didn't-"

"Listen-"

"STOP THEM!" Lilith shouted.

"Lily, no matter how much one dislikes a person or fears a person, unless they have any actual evidence of hard core criminal activity then... they can't run you out of town." Sal let Lilith process this.

"Even if I chose to beilieve you, I can not just go back to normal, there's to much I've lost."

"I know. That's why you're leaving L.A."

"What?"

"Look, I know it's a big step-"

"It's huge! That is a **Very. Huge. Step!** "

"But out in Austin, Texas... there's a little old ranch. Nobody lives there. It's been vacant for years. But I have the house keys and-" Sal was cut off by Lilith's very justified question.

"How do **you** have the keys?" She asked.

"I used to live in that house with my family... then I moved here." Sal said.

"I see." Lilith felt just awful for asking. But she took the keys. "And what do I do if I decide to go through with this wild suggestion?"

"Start a new, bring your father. Bring anyone else. The ranch is over two thousand square feet." Sal persisted.

"Oh, " Lilith felt sick. Never in one million years, did she think this opportunity would come. But she just couldn't take it. She dropped the keys into Sal's hand. "I'm sorry, Sal. But I can't."

Sal looked heartbroken. "Why?"

"Because I'm afraid." Lilith confessed.

"Of what? Monsters? Lily, we are **all** monsters. A monster is not what you are, it is **who** you are. The monsters pilliage and destroy. The monsters terrorize and kill and maim. The monsters break up families. It is time to show the **real** Dracula's and the **real** demons and ghosts that they did not suck the life out of you! They took someone precious from you, Lily. And if you can not get him back... then do the next best thing. And make him proud." He paused. "You've been dead too long, Lily. It's time to start living." And he dropped the keys into her hand, and held them there.

So the next day, Lily got out of the hospital and when home, she begun to pack. She put Sam into the car and they began to drive. Lily, the keys to the home in her purse, smiled. It would be a long drive and she was going to enjoy every part of it. Sal was right. She was not a monster... but a **Munster**.


	4. Austin, Texas

She had driven for nine hours now. She was halfway there. She had phoned her son and neice and they cried at the thought. Eddie was overjoyed at the idea of being free. So he decided to meet them in Texas. Lily missed her name. And she was excited to loose weight and change her legal age to what it really was. Although she looked thirty five. And Eddie looked twenty for his age due to his being the product of an immortal. He looked fourteen at twenty two.

Lily... her name was **Lily**. She was a young vampire with a broken past and a repaired future. Her dreams could come true, she could live again. She could be... happy. What did it feel like to be happy? How did one contain this... happiness? She had no idea. But did she really wish to contain it? No. No, she wanted to bask in it.

"Lily... We forgot the tin can. We need that blood or else we'll die." Sam said, in "la-la-land" yet again.

The one thing Lily couldn't fix was her father. She sighed, she smiled. She patted him gently on the shoulder. We're almost there, father."

Another nine hours passed and they arrived in Texas, a little while more and tey would be in Austin. They would be home.

So, they drove on and, following the directions Sal had given her, ended up in a feild. It was all grass with a narrow path, just big enough for their car. And she cried... she cried tears of joy and sadness for her husband but new life at the same time. They began to see more trees. "Lily, did you hear that?" Sam asked.

"No." Then, **"Lily!"** a voice called.

"Father... I heard that." Lily stopped crying but kept on driving.

"Maybe it's a different Lily." Sam kept slipping into more frequent states of health.

"Maybe."

 **"Lily!"** A voice that Lily knew all too well kept yelling.

 _Keep driving._ Lily told herself. She drove faster now.

 **"LILY!"** the voice again yelled.

"Lily, stop the car!" Sam yelled. The car came to a screeching hault and Lily ran out.

"Herman!" She ran through the forest, she ran as if her life depended on it. She burst into tears.

"Lily!" The voice kept calling.

 **"Herman!"** Lily screamed. She ran, closer, closer until... silence. She had come to a clearing and silence filled the air. She could never explain it, the voice in the woods. How? How could shw and her father have both heard the same voice at the same time? Maybe she was going crazy too... just like dear old dad. She sat on a small log in the clearing and she cried, her head in her hands.

Just then, a hand touched her shoulder. "Father, not to worry. I'm coming. Just give me a-" she was cut off.

"I hate to upset you, Lily, dear. But it's not your father."

Lily opened her eyes. It was not her father. The hand... the hand, was green. She blinked. Again, she blinked. It was real and unreal at the same time.

"If you want me to leave you alone, I understand." The voice turned to walk away.

Lily jumped up and around she turned. She tackle hugged him. **"HERMAN!"** She screamed.

Herman turned around and smiled. "Lily!" He hugged her. Lily looked and felt as though she were going to faint.

"I thought you were dead, pussycat!" She cried.

"No, I'm alive." Herman paused. "Or at least, I think I am."

Lily laughed. "Herman, I..." she looked away. "I just hate for you to see me like this. After they took you, -"

"Lily, I don't care what you look like. You should see how bad I'd look if the roles were reversed!" Herman exlaimed.

"Herman, Herman I have so much to tell you. Eddie, he's gotten so big. Oh, and Marilyn... well, she's still Marilyn..." Lily sighed. "But, Eddie... he's meeting us here." She looked at him.

And Herman, unable to control himself, kissed her. He kissed her like his life depended on it. He had several years to make up for! When they did let go, Lily smiled.

"I still have it." Her brown eyes sparkled.

"Have what, dear?" Herman asked.

"This." She pulled the necklace out from under her dress and showed him. "You bought it for me right after Eddie was born."

"I remember." Herman said. "How's Grandpa?"

Lily's face fell. "Well, to be honest with you, Herman... not to good. When we were..." she gulped. "persecuted... Grandpa went a bit... insane. He is getting better. But his mental health was deteriorating."

"Oh, Lily... I'm so sorry." Herman looked glum.

"It's really okay, Herman-"

"That I don't know what deteriorating means." Herman confessed.

Lily laughed. She missed this. "His mind was failing him, Herman. That's all." They begun walking back to the car after one last kiss and as they trod through the forest, Lily again spoke. "Grandpa may not be able to insult you for a while. Go easy on him, alright?"

"Of course, dear." Herman nodded. Sam was out of it when they finally did get back to the car. Lily drove, since Herman clearly had not driven in a while.

"Herman?" Lily asked. "How did you get here?"

"Well, Lily... once they took me, I demanded they let you all live. And they tried to kill me but nothing can except fire. They tried everything. Even tore me limb from limb. But, I was still alive. And then one of them suggested playing a game, so I gave them hints as to how to kill me and they finally figured it out. But this boy came up to them, he was the man's son. He saved me before they could burn me alive and that's when he told me to go to Texas. See, I didn't know where I was because they had stuffed me in the back of the truck and put a sack over my head. But, the nice boy, Sal... he said that if I ever came back, they would kill me. So I told him about the family, and he said he would keep an eye out for you, and he would keep it a secret. And he did. So, I lived in this cute little ranch until you came. But I spent most of my time out here, catching fish for food by the stream. But when I saw you and Grandpa... I nearly fainted. But I didn't. Instead I dropped my fish and started trying to get your attention."

Sal... Sal had helped them... **all** of them.

It was nightfall. And they drove for quite some time. They did, however, finally come to a brown, dilapitated ranch.


	5. Munsters

Eddie did, as promised, meet them there. He bought his own apartment on the street nearest to his family. A couple months had passed, and Lily was back to her slender figure at one hundred and thirty seven pounds. She had her name and age legally changed, as did Sam and Eddie. They changed their ages to what they **really** were. Sam was sitting on the couch pne afternoon while Herman read the paper and Lily cooked dinner.

All of the sudden, Herman began whistling. "Herman, Father! Dinner's ready!"

Herman, still whistling got up. "Grandpa, " Even though their children were grown, calling Sam, "Grandpa" just became a habbit.

"Herman, ya idiot, would you stop whistling! I'm trying to think." Grandpa scolded. Lily ran into the loving room, with tears in her eyes.

Together, in unison, Herman and Lily yelled, "He's back!" loud enough for all of Texas to hear. And for the first time in years, they ate dinner as a family.

Four months later, Lily recieved the news of her pregnancy and Herman got a job working for the nearby funeral parlor. They were planning to save up for a new home. A larger one, with the baby on the way. Eddie and Marilyn were estatic at the news.

Nine months later... Lily's water broke. The family was only five hundred dollars away from purchasing a suitable home. Lily did not recieve any medication to ease the pain. Herman was there, along with her father. Marilyn had flown over to Texas to see her family and she and Eddie waited in the waiting room. Lily squeazed Herman's hand so hard that it almost popped right off! Literally. But finally, after sox agonizing hours of labor, Lily gave birth to a baby boy. He was green like herman with Lily's eyes. But a shocked Lily Munster was not through just yet. In fact, two more were on the way. Five hours later, another baby boy was born. He looked just like Grandpa, only younger. Four hours later, a little girl was born, the last of the triplets. She looked just like Lily wih Herman's eyes.

The first born, was to be called Sal Pedro Munster, after the man who helped the family. The second, Victor Avian Munster. And the third, Ethel Diatra Munster. Lily was so unsure of how to raise a little girl, but she knew her father would be there to guide her every step of the way. After all, he had raised her. The triplets were born on October 13th, 1998.

Five years later, another baby girl was born into the family, their last child. Her name was Belladonna Raven Munster.

Five years had passed. The triplets were ten and causing so much trouble. They lived in a large haunted house and it was in lovely little neighborhood less than five minutes driving distance from Eddie. They were outcasted and accepted at the same time. They were Munsters.

One humid, rainy day... Lily stood in the doorway while her chilren played. She thought of how meerly ten years ago, her life was now on a downward spiral and now she was here. She would always be thankful to Sal Pedro Frenedo. He was the man responsible for her wonderful, new life. She smiled at the sky. And somewhere in L.A., a kind man was smiling too. He was happy because he was the man responsible for the great happiness falling over a woman he would never see again. But he did not need to see her. He knew she was well. He had a gut feeling. After all... Victor Frankenstien was his great great great grandfather.


End file.
